If all goes according to plan, the last four posts of the decade (I'm one of those contrary folk who start my decades with the ought year) will be top ten lists. Because there's nothing more interesting than some random person's idea of what constitutes the best, right?

My inaugural post will focus on movies. I can only choose from the movies that I've seen, obviously, so here is the list of the 52 theatrical releases from 2009 that I saw, in the theaters, with On Demand, or on Blu Ray (in alphabetical order):

1. 2012
2. (500) Days of Summer
3. Adventureland
4. Avatar
5. The Blind Side
6. Bruno
7. District 9
8. Drag Me To Hell
9. Duplicity
10. Extract
11. Fame
12. Fanboys
13. Fantastic Mr. Fox
14. Fast and Furious
15. The Final Destination: 3D
16. Funny People
17. GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra
18. The Hangover
19. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
20. He's Just Not That Into You
21. I Love You, Man
22. Inglourious Basterds
23. Jennifer's Body
24. Julie & Julia
25. The Last House on the Left
26. My Bloody Valentine 3D
27. Observe and Report
28. Orphan
29. Pandorum
30. Paranormal Activity
31. Post Grad
32. The Proposal
33. Public Enemies
34. Push
35. Sherlock Holmes
36. Star Trek
37. State of Play
38. Surrogates
39. The Taking of Pelham 123
40. Taken
41. Terminator Salvation
42. The Time Traveler's Wife
43. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
44. The Twilight Saga: New Moon
45. The Ugly Truth
46. Up
47. Watchmen
48. Where the Wild Things Are
49. Whip It
50. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
51. Year One
52. Zombieland

And here are the 16 movies that I haven't seen yet but plan to in the next year:

1. 9
2. Antichrist
3. Away We Go
4. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call new Orleans
5. The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day
6. The Brothers Bloom
7. Everybody's Fine
8. The Hurt Locker
9. The International
10. Invictus
11. It's Complicated
12. Me and Orson Welles
13. Moon
14. Nine
15. Precious
16. Up in the Air

So, without further ado, gauging primarily by rewatachability and sheer entertainment value, here are the movies that I've seen that I consider to be the best theatrical releases of 2009:

10. Observe and Report: This darkly humorous look at the pathetic life of a security guard with an inferiority complex is equal parts disturbing to watch and completely compelling. Anyone who went into the theater expecting a riff on "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" was in for a rude surprise, as Seth Rogen manages to transform himself from a lovable comic foil into a sad, angry, pathetic man. If the humor in this movie was only about schadenfreude, it wouldn't be nearly as good – instead, the writer/director managed to make us root for this despicable character at the same time that we despise him.

9. Funny People: Another Seth Rogen movie that wasn't quite a comedy makes my top ten list. This bittersweet take on the dark and sad life of a stand up comedian cum movie star, played by Adam Sandler in his best role since Punch Drunk Love, was a movie that I wish was even better. It was a bit uneven and needed some editing – I could see a director's cut or, alternatively an unedited longer version being one of my favorite movies of all time.

8. Zombieland: It's funny, gory, fast-paced, and has the best unbilled cameo of the last few years. Every actor, from Woody Harrelson to Jesse Eisenberg (playing the Michael Cera role better than Cera could have) to Emma Stone to Abigail Breslin, seemed perfect for their roles, and given the zombie nature of the film, the fact that none of the characters seemed safe made it a more enjoyable ride. I'm looking forward to watching this one again once it comes out on DVD/Blu Ray in February.

7. Inglourious Basterds: This movie might be Quentin Tarantino's best to date. It would be higher on my list if it weren't for a few elements that jarred me so badly – the Samuel L. Jackson's fourth-wall breaking narratives, which were completely unnecessary, and the introductions of a few of the Basterds in a completely anachronistic and stupid way. Other than these few occurrences, Tarantino's maturation as a creative force is highly evident, and I can't wait to see what he could do if he stopped with some of the amateurish flourishes that he is prone to use. Even if you're not a Tarantino fan, you should watch this movie. The opening scene will take your breath away.

6. Sherlock Holmes: I'm conflicted about how low this movie is on my list, but the fact is that it didn't make my jaw drop like the top 5 did. I still want to go see it again in the next week or so to give myself a chance to take it all in, because there were times when Robert Downey, Jr.'s Holmes spoke so quickly that I know I missed some of the excellent dialogue. Since I just reviewed it on Saturday, there's not much else I can say.

5. Avatar: Yet another movie that I've reviewed in the last week, so there's not much more to add. With fifteen years of planning, this movie could have not only blown me away with the immersive 3D graphics, but also wowed me with a complex, fascinating plot that avoided cliches and standard movie conventions. And while I'm willing to enjoy the journey, even when I know where the story's destination, what I heard about the original script's morally conflicted characters and gray areas explored leads me to wish for just a little more. The top four movies all demonstrated that you can have an amazing visual experience without sacrificing a great story, but maybe James Cameron needed another 15 years for that.

4. District 9: A great concept, a great story, and amazing graphics on a minuscule budget, District 9 managed to entertain me and make me think. It devolved in the third act a little, relying more on melodrama and blunt hammers of emotion instead of subtlety, but I was along for the whole ride and loved every minute of it.

3. Where The Wild Things Are: With the exception of a slow beginning that had me looking at my watch, I spent the rest of my time in the theater with a huge grin on my face. This movie took me back almost 30 years, remembering seeing this book for the first time. The illustrations quite adeptly came to life on the screen, and the voice acting, which I thought was all wrong when I walked into the theater, was absolutely pitch perfect. Here is an excellent example, only surpassed by the next movie on the list, of how a film can be for adults and kids at the same time. It's not hard to make a movie that doesn't talk down to kids, but also has enough subtext, beauty, and intelligence for adults to enjoy it, too, yet so many studios decide to go the stupid route because it's easier (See Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel).

2. Fantastic Mr. Fox: There's just something about the combination of the jerky stop-motion animation, the voice acting, and the delightful story that made me beam throughout the entire movie. This is Wes Anderson's version of Ocean's Eleven, and it works perfectly. I can't think of a single element of the movie that I disliked or thought should be changed. The only reason that this movie is not my number one movie of the year is that my other choice marginally came ahead in the category of repeat viewings.

1. Star Trek: I am not a fan of Star Trek. I've never seen any of the series, and the only movie I've seen is the one where they went back in time to save the blue whales. And yet the revamp of Star Trek is my favorite movie of 2009 – not something I would have predicted last year! Sure, I knew that it was likely going to be enjoyable, due to the director and writers, but I never thought it would be so good. I saw it three times in the theater and have seen it an additional three times since buying it for home viewing. And it is just as good every single time. In fact, the second time I saw it, I enjoyed it more than the first time. I rarely look forward to sequels, but this is one movie where I cannot wait until they come out with a sequel, something that still at least a year or two off.

Honorable Mentions: (500) Days of Summer, The Blind Side, Paranormal Activity, Taken, and The Time Traveler's Wife.

And here are the five worst movies of 2009:

5. Year One – What the fuck was Harold Ramis thinking? Or Jack Black? Or Michael Cera? This could have been hysterical yet it missed the mark so badly. So, so badly.
4. The Ugly Truth – Hearing Gerard Butler do an American accent was painful, because apparently he feels the need to talk like he has a mouth full of marbles. The predictable story and the flat emotion between Butler and Katherine Heigl just made this hard to sit through without getting frustrated at missed opportunities for smart writing or cliche avoidance.
3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – From the hour-long run through the desert to the racist ghetto bots to the humanoid Transformer to fucking robot heaven, this movie was so far from the fun romp of the original that Michael Bay should be ashamed of himself as he rolls around naked in his big fat piles of money.
2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine – If you're going to make a movie about a mutant who pops fucking metal claws out of his hands, which causes him extreme pain, makes him very cranky, and his origin is that he killed a lot of people, make it an R-rated movie.
1. Post Grad – Oh, Rory.